Fewer tests, but more community

Wednesday

Mar 26, 2014 at 6:00 AM

By Clive McFarlane TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

E arlier this week, the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education released the results of a poll that found a majority of business owners believe too much time is spent on standardized tests, at the expense of science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, instruction.

Some of us might find the poll results hard to believe, given that as far back as 1957, when the Russians set off the space race by launching their Earth-orbiting satellite, Sputnik 1, American schools have been pushed to increase STEM instruction.

But what if I were to suggest that the problem with our education system is not that we are obsessed with standards, or that we have been lax in providing quality STEM instructions?

What if I were to tell you the problem is not complacency, as Henry Dinger, the chairman of the MBAE board believes, but rather our one-track approach to education reform — increasing academic and accountability standards — has reached a state of diminishing returns.

Simply put, we are currently getting the maximum out of this one-track approach, and any additional expenditure to raise standards and increase accountability will only bring diminishing results relative to the amount we spend.

A number of educators have long figured this out, and a few, with educator and businessman Geoffrey Canada being one of the most celebrated, have tried to change course by following a two-track approach to education reform.

In the early 1990s, Mr. Canada, who recently spoke at the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts as part of the Worcester Connects Distinguished Speaker Series, took on the challenge of improving the poor academic performances of young people in his Harlem community.

He understood, however, that improving his neighborhood schools was just part of the solution. He also needed, he believed, to improve the participation of parents and the broader community in the education process.

As such, he carved out a 24-block area in his community called the Harlem Children's Zone, and began addressing not just academics, but many of the other issues weighing on students and their parents — housing, crime and health problems.

The program, which works with students from birth through college, has since been extended to a 100-block area, and so far has enrolled more than 800 students in higher education. Today, according to its website, the Children's Zone "serves more than 8,000 children and 6,000 adults."

Here in Massachusetts, the Gateway Cities Innovation Institute seeks to mirror what's happening in Harlem by creating "dynamic community-wide learning systems," in cities such as Worcester.

The Institute is focusing on four areas — early childhood education, social and emotional growth, pathways to colleges, and newcomers (representatives of the growing social and ethnic diversity of Gateway cities.)

"It is about everybody in the community making education the higher priority," Ben Forman, director of the Institute, said.

"Gateway cities have a lot of assets — community health centers, health care services, cultural institutions and businesses that can provide students with experiential learning — that make them uniquely positioned" to make goals and aspirations of the Institute a reality.

The Institute is still in the discussion phase, with a series of public hearings under way. Eventually, supporters will need to push legislation to get it implemented.

We can only hope lawmakers see the wisdom in investing in this promising education and community reform movement.